[Web4lib] Clarification of on/off topic on Web4Lib

[John Fereira]

Well, John, we should all be so lucky.  Not all libraries are so lucky.  Many aren't academic, and thus don't even have the option of a university pay scale.

Others of us don't have a university pay scale.  Such positions are professional, and thus subject to individual budgets and negotiations.  The folks who work in university central IT make from 10K to 30K more than the same types/levels/competencies of positions in the libraries.  It is a continuing issue for me, and for the guys who work for me.  They do stay (at least so far) working for the library because they much prefer the environment for many reasons, they get to work in one building instead of running all over campus, and they have a bit more autonomy and quite a bit more flexibility in schedule, dress, and so forth.  However, they're continually attracted by bigger bucks from campus IT, and even bigger ones from off campus.  Best of all we're nice people to work with, with a very low "jerk quotient" in almost all colleagues.  That is worth a lot.

As to the "good approach" of offering a competitive salary, well....you get what you pay for....though I'll say that we're getting much more than we pay for, at least in the library.

dan

--------------------------
I am not sure what library pay scales are but at least at the 
university where I work a web developer can expect to be offered the 
same salary whether going to work in one of the libraries, at the law 
school, engineering school, etc.  If one can't find a good developer 
by offering lower salaries it would seem to me that offering a salary 
that is competitive with what any other employer in the area might 
offer might be a good approach.

John Fereira
jaf30 at cornell.edu
Ithaca, NY 

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